Alone in the Universe (WSHH Such Great Patience)
by equilibrium2018
Summary: A 'what should have happened' scene addition between Bridger and Westphalen to the first season Such Great Patience episode. (Originally written and posted 15 years ago for the N/K YahooGroup that's now shut down. If you weren't a member and you haven't read this already, I hope you enjoy :)


Kristin sat on the floor in one of the many labs of Seadeck. Images of the sample of the alien ship's hull were projected on every available screen around her. Some were real time pictures taken by Krieg, others were magnified thin sections of the crystals and finally some displayed the molecular modelling she'd been working on.

When Keller's away team had returned safely to the seaQuest, they and the other crew members who'd mysteriously turned up in a moon pool had been quarantined. Kristin's med team had assessed each and every one, and found them all to be in perfect health. In fact, several who had initially had niggling problems were now completely well – Crocker's heart rate and cholesterol were down, Shan's eyesight was 20/20 and Baker's hairline fracture was healed. Kristin shook her head bemusedly. There were a lot of things that were going to change after today. Thankfully most of the seaQuest's skeleton crew were now having a well-earned rest. They would need it for the coming few days.

Though she too was exhausted, Kristin couldn't sleep. She didn't know how long she'd been sitting in the dark like this for, but her mind was abuzz. She had at her fingertips all the new information that most scientists couldn't hope to come across in a whole lifetime. And now she had to fathom it all, use all of these alien discoveries to better her own species. There just wasn't enough time. So, though her body was aching for sleep, the images glittering around her and the medical reports stacked beside her were providing her with a raw kind of earnest and awestruck energy. And so it didn't surprise her when the silence was broken by footfalls entering the lab – she knew of at least one other person who'd be kept up by this intense feeling.

"Elegant, isn't it?" Kristin spoke softly as Nathan approached one of the many screens, it's soft glow illuminating his face in the lab's darkness.

"Yes." He continued to move about the images, stopping sometimes for a closer inspection. "Is this your digital recreation of the alien ship's outer skin?" Nathan asked of one molecular model that was spinning and glinting.

"Mmm. Now we just have to understand it."

Nathan turned to Kristin and gave her a big, excited smile. "Yeah." He wandered over and sat on the ground beside her. He couldn't sleep and he knew she wouldn't be able to either, so he'd sought her out. More and more lately he'd felt the pull to be in her presence. It wasn't as though he needed to see her every minute of the day, or talk to her or hear her voice, just to feel that she was there with him. Whilst he'd been on his way to find her, he realised that this is what it came down to: he'd rather be an insomniac with her than by himself. He smiled. After a few minutes of comfortable silence Nathan began to talk. "So," he began slowly, "I've been wondering…"

He paused in his sentence, trying to figure out exactly how to say what he needed to. "You've been wondering what to tell the UEO and Space Program people," Kristin finished for him as though his thoughts were written in the air about his head. Nathan felt an unsettling flicker that Kristin could tell his thoughts and moods so easily, but he was getting rather used to it by now. Kristin turned to him and was met with his serious stare, a look of reckoning passing between them until Kristin understood. "You've been wondering what to tell the UEO and Space Program people… if anything at all." She finished slowly with a waver of uncertainty in her voice. Nathan tipped his head slightly and Kristin looked away as she let out a breath. "Right." And despite the shock, somehow, she knew this was the way it had to be. If they handed their findings over to the UEO the whole process would be militarised. There'd be attack plans made, a lockdown on the scientific materials collected, a possible cover up and a return invitation may never be sent. Or worse, it'd be sent as a trap. Yes, this way was definitely for the best. "How would it work?" she asked quietly.

"I'd hold an off-the-record meeting of senior staff and the other crew members who're involved. We'd take a vote and hopefully there'd be a consensus to withhold as much of the information as possible."

"I see," Kristin replied, going over it in her head.

"Of course," Nathan continued, "the UEO already knows we discovered the ship but we would tell them it self-destructed when we tried to board it. Our encounter with the aliens, the location of their galaxy, all of the samples and measurements we took, it'll all be kept secret." Kristin nodded. "And then there's the small matter of an alien race that's waiting to be asked round for a Sunday lunch." Her eyes snapped onto his. Her expression was a mixture of surprise, disbelief and hope, and volumes passed in that one look.

"Could we do that?" Kristin said breathlessly.

"We have the perfect set up," admitted Nathan as though it was inevitable. "We could stack the wskrs so we'd have enough power to send a message. Our systems allow for enough precision so we could pinpoint M100."

"Darwin could translate the message for us," Kristin continued as the possibilities multiplied in her mind.

"And when there's a reply, it comes to us." Nathan finished.

Kristin looked intently at him, wondering if she trusted herself to believe what was happening. "What could happen to the crew if we were discovered?" Despite the outlandishness of the situation, there would still be some very real consequences if they were found out.

Bridger knew she understood why they had to take this action, but at the same time they both worried about the future of the crew as if they were family. "I would take the blame. They're all military so I could say I ordered them to keep quiet."

Kristin smiled lightly. "You think they'd sit back and let you sacrifice yourself if it came to that?"

Nathan grinned back. "No. But they're military so I'd order them to, and they'd have to." Kristin laughed and Nathan's heart warmed at the sound. "You're a different story though," he said as he sobered. "As much as I'd like to, I couldn't argue that you had to follow my instructions."

"I'm a civilian," Kristin thought the plan through, "so I don't think they could put me in prison like they could do with you."

"No," Nathan agreed. "But your career would be over though." Even though he didn't like what he had to say, he knew Kristin had to be aware of the consequences before she agreed to help him. This was going to be painful, but he knew a worst-case scenario is what she needed to hear. "The UEO would dismiss you, your colleagues would never trust you again, your name would fall into disrepute in the scientific community and I imagine you'd be almost unemployable….. And *don't* say you could go work on Malcolm's island." Bridger finished quickly, and they both shot looks at each other tinged with irritation and amusement.

Kristin sighed heavily and took his words in silently. Nathan thought she was going to back out. They could pretend they'd never had this conversation and none of the plans would change really, but for some reason Nathan preferred to have her with him. "Well, at least then I'd have a lot more free time to come visit you in gaol." She turned laughing eyes on him and he smiled his relief. "And besides, our actions might seem selfish at the time to others, but in that moment when we welcome and invite them, when they return in that spirit of co-operation and knowledge… It'll be a new beginning, a new age. And it'll be for everyone. It'll be… everything…" She trailed off, language no longer enough to describe what their daring and sacrifice could mean for mankind.

"Thank you. I -" Nathan begun but Kristin cut him off.

"No need."

For a moment they sat in the dark and silence once more until Nathan picked up Kristin's hand from where it sat in her lap and placed a kiss on her knuckles to show his gratitude. But instead of replacing her hand, he held onto it as he searched for his next words. "Earlier today in the maglev. I was trying to say something…"

"About us not wanting to be alone in the Universe?" Kristin tilted her head slightly to regard him as she thought happily about how their invitation would change all of that.

"No," said Nathan, looking at the floor. "Yes…" Kristin waited for him to explain, a look of concern creeping into her eyes. Whatever it was, he was having trouble expressing it. Finally, Nathan looked straight at her. "I've been alone in the Universe for almost two years." Suddenly she realised he was talking about his loneliness since the death of his wife and not the discovery of life off their little planet. Her heart rate raced. "I don't want to be alone in the Universe anymore." Under Nathan's intense gaze Kristin's mouth went dry and her cheeks tinged red.

"Neither do I," she breathed.

"I want you," he admitted in earnest. Kristin smiled timidly and Nathan took that as invitation enough. His face broke into a huge grin and he leaned in to share a sweet kiss. Though both of them knew they could not begin this new part of their relationship right now, it was enough to know that they weren't alone and what was to come. Nathan put his arm around Kristin and they sat, the glow of their triumph around them.

"Do you know what the invitation to the aliens is going to say?" Kristin asked as she lay her head on his shoulder. It felt like it was made to rest there.

"I didn't until just now," Nathan answered, revelling in the way Kristin's body felt next to his.

"Oh?"

"Mmm," he said, kissing her forehead. "But I've decided." Kristin waited to hear what Nathan had composed. This would be the most important message anyone in the world had ever sent to date. "'In the spirit of co-operation and knowledge, the residents of this planet welcome and invite you.'"

The beginning.


End file.
